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Fractured Freedom


Trapped behind the loveless walls
of a caged room, calls
a torn-heart to the distant world.
Crushed with brutal violence
Silenced with unheard torture
I weep with dry tears.

I stare beyond the iron bars
I see no stars
Even they have eluded me
Behind the dark clouds.

Confined in the suffocating spaces of my cell
I am denied my privacy.
I do not cry for help,why should I
when I breath the putrid air of denied justice.
Each moment is a bondage here
where I toil harder with myself
to keep my numbness alive.

In the shadow of an act
(they call it crime)
once done, in the spur of the moment,
I lie here forgotten and broken
with a fractured freedom and spirit
and an unageing memory, I force myself to forget.

I have learnt to live this life
"Mother don't weep for me."
A life-sentence with no life
condemns me here.
But tell them all
in words so clear
"Don't call me a child of lesser God."

Comments

  1. NeethaAugust 15, 2011 at 7:32 PM

    Farah, ur poem made me journey from the self to the outer world.
    a life-sentence with no life...!! to step into the shoes of the 'other' requires a vivid imagination and a grt power of understanding..:) n ur poem has both in abundance..
    smhw it reminded me of the 'desert places'that Frost talked about...

    "They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
    Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
    I have it in me so much nearer home
    To scare myself with my own desert places."

    poignant work farah :) i am reading and re-reading it :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Farah ZachariahAugust 15, 2011 at 9:12 PM

    @ Neetha...i m readin and re-reading ur comment..:)) d comment itself is worth other comments...truly inspirin....jus loved it dear...Thanx a lot..:))

    ReplyDelete
  3. aravindAugust 15, 2011 at 9:15 PM

    May b your best work of poetry till now, bravo:)..

    The final line "Don't call me a child of lesser God",is something which carries a lot of weight, like a collectiv unconscious of inherited tragedies. Something which shouldnt come from a hollow mouth for it shall become a farce.

    You had some inspiration? I mean like a story or incident, because its very powerful, the whole poem or do you really have a story to say?

    ReplyDelete
  4. zacAugust 16, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    when the world outside gets distanced, when you are crushed to silence, you learn to cry without tears..(if i am rte, one can fnd traces f Shantaram..no wonder since u r at d othr end)and when u learn to live this life of bondage, u will develop a spark within..it can be for good or for bad..but the last line says it all..
    Freedom gettin fractured...good thought..good work..:))

    ReplyDelete
  5. Farah ZachariahAugust 16, 2011 at 4:52 PM

    @Aravind..thanx a lot...d las line carries d voice f a million others...n wt u said is absolutely true...in b/w...was it wrngly brot in?
    inspiration...well i dont kno....actly i had read n article..which talked abt pple in jails who cudn afford advocates...bein behind d bars fr so long than their crime wd demand...petty crimes...how do these people celebrate freedom?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Farah ZachariahAugust 16, 2011 at 4:54 PM

    @zac...shantaram and cryin without tears rte...u knew it bcos i tol u...:))d spark here is to live with hope...thanx a lot..:)

    ReplyDelete

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